Repertoire Levels

UkeStuff · Oct 4, 2017

Hey everyone,

I’m a singer (probably obvious by my handle and if you have seen any of my videos) that started using ukuleles with (forced) middle school choir. I accidentally fell in love with the instrument and love being able to play and sing.

That said, the next steps have occurred and I keep advancing in skill—which should probably be expected when you hold a PhD in music.

While I will ALWAYS (emphasis intended) sing and play, I have picked up some other resources along the way. I have bought some of Al Wood’s fingerstyle arrangements, Aaron Keim’s Fingerstyle Ukulele book, and Mike Lynch’s Chord Melody Books 1-3.

All of these are good, and are highly recommend. I can play all of that, so this tells me that it is time to challenge myself further.

My question: what is the next level of literature that is the next challenge? I look at Corey’s arrangements on The Ukulele Site and that jumps from 4 to 10 in difficulty.

What arrangements are out there in the 6 and 8 level of categories? Or does ukulele literature just jump from 4 to 10 and require a quantum leap in ability?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Note: there is no difficulty level scale (maybe there should be)...I’m just using “4” and “10” in a relative sense.

Gary52 · Oct 4, 2017

I have Daniel Ho's Ukulele Songbook, and it's much more advanced than the Aaron Keim Fingerstyle book. There is a range of difficulty among the arrangements in the book.

Croaky Keith · Oct 4, 2017

If you can read music, the world is your oyster.

I'm still not very good at it, but the more you do it, the better you become, & it opens up so much more music for you to play, (even if it was arranged for a different instrument), you should be able to transpose it to your instrument of choice.

SailingUke · Oct 4, 2017

I enjoy singing and playing. I have learned to put together chord melodies for many of the songs I play.
For an "AABA" song I play and sing the song, play instrumentally 2 "A" parts and then sing the "B&A" parts.
Ends up as a nice arrangement.

Brad Bordessa · Oct 5, 2017

Bill1 said:
Write your own arrangements.

Bingo.

A bit of help learning the how-tos/concepts/styles of arranging would go a long ways too. UU+ or The Ukulele Way would probably shed some light on what's happening to create the illusion of an arrangement.

UkeStuff · Oct 5, 2017

Bill1 said:
Write your own arrangements. Start with your favourite tunes in your favourite genres. Then add in arrangements of the tunes you hate the most.
When the arrangements seem right, publish them in a CD and a book, the Choirboy Song Book of Advanced Ukulele.
If that seems too hard, wean yourself off "ukulele" books altogether, learn how to get a piano score and play it on your ukulele with sight reading. And/or learn to play back a tune you hear on the radio. So get to a point where you do not need to look for a "ukulele" book, but you are looking for the music (written or audio version)to a tune you want to play.
I recently picked up a book called "Sailing Songs andShanties for the Irish Whistle". It has sheet music that goes with the game Assassins Creed Four, the Black Flag (Sea Chanty Edition). It has whistle tab as well as standard notation. I can listen to the game music or just arrange it myself for ukulele, guitar, harmonica. I don't need it to be in "ukulele" format. I don't know where else you can get the music for the game. Sometimes the music you want is not in ukulele format, you can find it and with a tool like MuseScore you can work out a ukulele arrangement, chords with some solos, and then work out how to play it on your uke.

I can arrange...I do hold a PhD in music after all (and yes, I can read music), but that takes extensive time that I don’t have as a teacher and a father of young children. I’m looking for leveled repertoire that is already available so that instead of working at arranging, I can simply work on playing. As it is, I already make corrections in the music that I play...but I want my personal ukulele playing to be a release from the stresses of life rather than more work.

Oh...and it is Choirguy, although that title isn’t quite the descriptor of who I am (it once was). I don’t even own that domain any more and even changed my Twitter handle.

zztush · Oct 5, 2017

Choirguy said:
What arrangements are out there in the 6 and 8 level of categories? Or does ukulele literature just jump from 4 to 10 and require a quantum leap in ability?

You are singer. Your ukulele is accompaniment. Accompaniments require simple arrangement than solo. The arrangements out there in guitars are

1) strumming
2) arpeggio
3) finger style (travis picking)
4) Cater families

We don't have bass strings on our ukulele, hence basically these 2, 3 and 4 arrangements do not work on our ukuleles.

I think you just need to check the table of contents of guitar's literature. And see which arrangement you want to learn.

Estudiante · Oct 31, 2017

Hi, Choirguy. I've been using Ukulele Way for about 18 months now. Of that 6 volume series, 5 and 6 are more advanced than what I'm guesstimating is the level of the books you've referenced. The UW books are mostly notation only. If you subscribe to Ukulele Way, the online lessons include notation with tablature. Very high quality stuff. James Hill's new 'Duets for One' can provide additional material that has some continuity with the Ukulele Way material. Ukulele Way has given me the skills to play pretty much anything I want from ordinary lead sheets. Something fun with playing from lead sheets is that a song comes out a bit different every time you play it.

rubykey · Oct 31, 2017

If you like swing music ukulelezaza has some great books that get positive reviews. He has a YouTube channel and an Etsy site.
Ukulelezaza

you tube
Dirtiestkidever from UU used to post his vids from those books and I really enjoyed them.

Repertoire Levels

UkeStuff

Well-known member

Gary52

Well-known member

Croaky Keith

Well-known member

SailingUke

Uke legend in my own mind

Brad Bordessa

Well-known member

UkeStuff

Well-known member

zztush

Well-known member

Estudiante

Well-known member

rubykey

Well-known member

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